Peggy Jo "Cowboy Bob" Tallas, 60, bank robber shot by police after holding up a bank
Hoodoo
Associated Press
http://www.nctimes.com/
DALLAS -- A bank robber once dubbed "Cowboy Bob" because of her
bearded male disguise was fatally shot by police Thursday after
holding up a bank, fleeing police in a recreational vehicle and
pulling a toy gun that officers thought was real.
Peggy Jo Tallas, 60, stopped the RV in a residential area two
miles from the bank in Tyler in northeast Texas, police spokesman
Don Martin said. She was not in disguise, although a number of
wigs and hats were later found in the vehicle.
Officers were trying to persuade her to surrender when she pulled
what appeared to be a revolver, prompting four officers to open
fire, Martin said.
Tallas was convicted of three counts of bank robbery in the early
1990s, Martin said. In what a judge at the time called "one of
the most unusual cases I've ever seen," Tallas eluded authorities
by posing as a Western-styled man, complete with fake beard,
cowboy hat, sunglasses and cowboy duds.
She was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison in 1993
after pleading guilty to robbing a Mesquite bank, one of four she
held up during a 10-month period.
According to her attorney at the time, she resorted to robbery
out of desperation about her situation, including caring for an
invalid mother and being unemployed.
In one of the robberies, Tallas presented the teller with a note
saying she had a gun and a bomb. Neither was seen, but she fled
with nearly $14,000. FBI agents traced the robber to Tallas'
apartment, but when they looked inside, there was no man -- only
Tallas and her mother.
Agents figured out the ploy in a later search, in which they
found fake facial hair, glue, a cowboy hat and tens of thousands
of dollars.
--
It's a big old goofy world. - John Prine
Jim Beaver
"Hoodoo" <hoo...@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:427BAF34...@spamcop.net...
What gave it away?
Jim Beaver
Hoodoo
>>Agents figured out the ploy in a later search, in which they found fake
>>facial hair, glue, a cowboy hat and tens of thousands of dollars.
> What gave it away?
It states "later search", so, perhaps they questioned the initial
mystery, returned to search again, and were more thorough or
fine-tuned their deductive reasoning.